Germanic *ƀra (PIE *pro) as ditropic clitic and the etymology of *ƀrenga-, *ƀrūka- and *ƀraiđ̯a-

It is argued that the Germanic forms *ƀrenga- ‘bring’, *ƀrūka- ‘use, enjoy’ and *ƀrai̯đa- ‘broad’ contain an element *ƀra which is the “ditropic” variant of Gmc. *fra < PIE *pro. It arose by Verner’s Law when *fra was enclitic and formed a phonological word with a preceding lexeme, while being syntactically and semantically oriented towards its host on the right. The same behavior may be seen in Germanic *ham- and *ǥa- as continuants of PIE *kom.

Alphabet and phonology

It is generally accepted that Wulfila invented the Gothic alphabet, but there is no agreement on the details. The most explanatory derivation is from Greek with input from Latin and runic. The consonant system has 20 phonemes (one marginal) and five or six allophones. Apart from final obstruent-resonant strings, clusters canonically obey the Sonority Hierarchy. The vowel system has twelve phonemes (seven long, five short), less the diphthongs; some speakers may have had /y/. The main changes that left reflexes in Gothic are discussed. These include Verner’s Law, Thurneysen’s Law, breaking, Sievers’ Law, duple timing and (Verschärfung). Evidence from spelling variation suggests a vowel shift in progress. All but one of the original diphthongs may have been monophthongized. New diphthongs were created.

English Is an Indo-European Language

This chapter suggests ways that Indo-European can be made relevant throughout an entire course on the history of English. Grimm’s Law and Verner’s Law, for example, are not just useful for demonstrating that English is member of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family. Rather, in combination with other, later sound changes, they have repercussions in present-day English. For example, they tell us that day and diurnal are not cognate, but that raw and crude are, as are seethe and sodden. An understanding of Proto-Indo-European linguistic phenomena, such as sound changes, ablaut, and the PIE active-stative verb system can be used to explain the structure of Old, Middle, and Modern English as well as aspects of English as it is spoken today.

The development of Proto-Germanic

This chapter discusses the reconstructable linguistic changes that occurred in the development from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. The first half of the chapter discusses regular sound changes, especially prominent changes including the elimination of laryngeals, Grimm’s Law, Verner’s Law, the remodelling of Sievers’ Law, the loss of intervocalic *j, and several changes of vowels. The second half discusses morphological changes. A long initial section deals with the wholesale morphological restructuring of the verb system, concentrating on preterite-present verbs, strong and weak past tense stems, and participles. Subsequent sections discuss less sweeping changes in the inflection of verbs and nominals.

Proto-Germanic

This chapter is a grammatical sketch of Proto-Germanic, parallel to the sketch of Proto-Indo-European in Chapter 2. The section on phonology discusses the Verner’s Law alternation; automatic vocalic alternations; and the ablaut system at length. The section on inflectional morphology discusses the classes of strong, weak, preterite-present, and anomalous verbs, as well as the various classes of nominals. Short sections on derivational morphology, syntax, and the lexicon are included; the last concentrates on loanwords in Proto-Germanic.